Bush said the new intel “contradicting earlier US assessments…would not prompt him to take off the table the possibility of pre-emptive military action against Iran.”
That’s not news – as anyone who listened to or read anything since yesterday knows. What’s mind-boggling to me is how stupid this president obviously believes his subjects are [well, half of them anyway(and he’s unfortunately right.)] According to the president, the report indicates that the so-called “diplomatic-pressure” he has put on Iran has worked. He’s even got the gall to imply that America has led an international diplomatic effort that is succeeding, when nothing could be further from the truth.
Correct me if I am wrong, but is this not the same president who, when the European Union sat down to negotiate with Iran, opposed it from the start and refused to take part?
European nations would like the United States to join talks with Iran — now involving Germany, France and Britain — by offering Tehran security and economic guarantees in exchange for abandoning its nuclear ambitions. The Bush administration has refused to participate in the talks.
So, Mr. President, don’t tell me America led anything here. The audacity of his statement taking credit for the shift in Iran is astonishing. That those on the right trumpet it speaks more to their intelligence and analytical abilities than anything. Of course, those are the same folks who probably believe that this Q&A from yesterday’s news conference is a stunning takedown of a mainstream journalist, when all it proves is that thepresident hasn’t got a clue what he’s talking about, and most likely has not even read the report’s executive summary:
Q. Why should you trust this intelligence more than the intelligence of 2005?
Bush: Without getting into sources and methods, I believe the intelligence community has made a great discovery… and uhhh… they’ve analyzed the discovery, and it’s …uhhh… now part of our government policy.
WTF does that even mean, and how does it answer the question? If I’m hearing this right, he’s saying, “The intelligence community has discovered that Iran is not pursuing nukular weapons. They’ve analyzed this discovery, and now it’s part of our government policy – which, by the way, will not change.”
**Update: The Pentagon is HAPPY about the NIE, according to Time.